Road schemes will bring new jobs

Major new plans to improve the road network in the East of England will benefit the Biggleswade and Sandy areas.

Plans announced this week for work up to 2021 include upgrading junctions 6-8 of the A1(M) to a smart motorway.

This will include widening of a two-lane section to dual three lane and hard shoulder running, providing an additional 14 lane miles to relieve congestion on the Hertfordshire/Bedfordshire border.

Further work at the A428 Black Cat roundabout to Caxton Gibbet will see the dualling of the remaining single carriageway section between Caxton Gibbet west of Cambridge and the M1, including a grade separated junction at the Black Cat roundabout.

Announcing the roads plan yesterday, Roads Minister Andrew Jones said: “As part of our long-term economic plan, we are making the biggest investment in roads in a generation.

“The £2 billion investment on the East of England up to 2021 will significantly improve journeys and help create jobs.”

Ken Simmonds, Highways England’s Director of Major Projects in the South and East said: “These improvements will bring significant long-term benefits to road users on motorways and major A roads in the east of England as well as the ecomony as a whole.

“The construction work will, of course, bring some disruption in the short term but we will ensure that we keep this to a minimum to keep traffic flowing.

“When the schemes are comppled, road users will experience safer, more reliable and less congested journeys.”